


Nihil

by GamerAlpha



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (Video Games), Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Coma, Gen, Rebuilding, Regret, Serious, Sonic Forces
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-01
Updated: 2018-01-01
Packaged: 2019-02-26 00:27:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13224372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GamerAlpha/pseuds/GamerAlpha
Summary: The war to take back the planet is over, but the reconstruction is only beginning. And no one is quite sure how to put things back the way they were.Even if it's not the worst case scenario, some things can still be hard to come to terms with.





	Nihil

The newest version of Metropolis, the Eggman’s idea of a perfect city, was all sterile white, with geometric chrome decorations. Amy might have even found it pretty, if it wasn’t built by a mad scientist who stood for everything they hated.

He’d been defeated, again, but he’d almost certainly run off somewhere. Metropolis would need to be destroyed before he could use it again. But first, they had to clean it up. Almost a week later and the resistance were still finding their fallen soldiers, lost during Operation Big Wave. Some had slipped and fallen off balconies, been scorched by lasers, crushed by machinery… And some only _thought_ they had.

“I was on a walk through the residential district. and found another one,” Amy Rose, former communications officer of the Chaotix cell, said as she put down a rabbit on a spare bed, next to a bird and a wolf. She hoped Cream and Big were alright in their jungle hideaway… “Looks like she bounced behind some crates after running into Infinite.”

“Another Coma case then,” said a monkey medic, writing something down on a clipboard. “Only a few who didn’t get finished off by _real_ enemies afterwards, but at least there’s hope for them. I can’t imagine what’s going through their minds after dying in virtual reality.”

“They’re still breathing for now,” Amy muttered. She was no doctor, though. “Do you have any reports ready? I can pass them along to Knuckles.”

“Here’s one now,” the medic responded, pulling a page out of his clipboard and passing it to her. “Just an updated casualty list,” he said bitterly. He was probably blaming Knuckles now that they had time for it.

“Well, I won’t lose it,” Amy said.

* * *

 

'What could be going through their minds?' She thought. Were they imagining themselves in an afterlife they didn’t want to leave? Or had their brains broken down trying to conceive of total oblivion? It could be different for all of them. The only thing she could say for sure was there was no outside force keeping them this way – the Phantom Ruby was destroyed, and couldn’t cast its illusions anymore.

“Knuckles,” she said automatically when she saw him, “Another report from the makeshift hospital we set up. I don’t think they’ll be happy if you ignore it.”

“Ugh,” the echidna groaned, “I know, I know. Here I thought I could finally give up the commander’s seat.” All things considered, he didn’t like being a resistance leader. He preferred being in the thick of the action, and the individual cells often did fine on their own (He still didn’t know how Fox Squad had subverted an Airship construction facility when he wasn’t looking).

“Someone had to do it. And honestly, we didn’t know anyone who could do a good job,” Amy responded, handing over the sheet. In Tails’ absence, she’d picked up enough tech knowledge to keep all her remaining friends connected - for a while. Rouge and G.U.N. had been distant, seemingly with their own agenda – and they’d made too many bad calls for her to trust their judgement. Knuckles had determination to spare, and just enough charisma to get people to follow him. Into disaster, as the report reminded them.

“Well, this is an improvement,” Knuckles said after reading it, “Worse than we’d hoped for, but better than we thought we knew.” He grumbled, “And here I’m still left holding the tab.

“Oh, don’t want to set up a Seventh great civilization, ruled by the last Echidna on Angel Island?” Amy playfully taunted.

“Don’t even joke about that. Sonic would never let me live it down,” Knuckles grumbled. “But it’s not like the old regimes are ready to take back their positions either,” he sighed. “Six months, and sometimes it still doesn’t feel real. Having an army of more people than I thought existed when I was growing up a Guardian, and losing most of them in five minutes, because of a plan that I made in ninety seconds. I _still_ can’t take it in.”

“It may not feel real, but as long as we don’t deny that it _was_ real…” Amy trailed off, unsure of how to continue. “Is the Rookie still around? There’s a situation I want someone to follow up on.”

“Really? What?” Knuckles responded, anxious for a new subject.

“Well, we arranged for civilians to hide out in wild places, and near old Eggman bases that he’d forgotten about. I tried keeping in contact with them, but we had to stop so that Eggman couldn’t track them. Now that _he’s_  defeated and in hiding-“

“Missing your old friends? Well, I might not be able to find _that_ veteran, but that’s important enough that I can get _someone_ on it…” Knuckles grinned.

* * *

 

_Slowly, they were becoming aware of a growing ache._

_Emptiness of a different sort?_

_Their punishment for being good for nothing._

_Was dying to something that wasn’t real._

_It had to have been days by now._

_Did the world still exist?_

_It had to, right?_

_It didn’t matter._

_Or maybe it did._

_They were a redshirt, not a hero._

_They couldn’t overcome Nothing._

_Not like Knuckles._

_Not like Silver._

_Not like… Sonic._

_Sonic was back._

_They wouldn’t lose again._

_The resistance had won by now._

_Sonic’s forces had-_

In the heart of Metropolis, a fallen soldier’s long nightmare came to an end as they lurched forward.


End file.
